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Archdiocese of Denver
THE CHURCH'S VISION OF THE PERSON AND SEXUALITY
Our spiritual identity is expressed in the world through the body, enabling us
to learn, communicate, and express love. The Church defends the integrity of
God's creation, respecting his lordship over creation and the wisdom by which
he has endowed all things with the integrity of their own particular nature. The
Church holds that faith and reason cannot be in contradiction and that together
they manifest the splendor of the human person.
Sacred Scripture provides a rich revelation of the human person as a body-
soul unity. The creation account in Genesis reveals that men and women are
made in the image and likeness of God: this means that we are free and rational
creatures, capable of knowing God and loving him. " The dignity of the human
person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God" (Catechism of
the Catholic Church [CCC] 233, 1700). Sexual identity, embodiment as either
a man or a woman is a gift that is given to us from the moment of creation (CCC
383, 2333). Sexual difference is the source of the complementarity that ena-
bles complete self-giving in the marital act and makes possible "the generation
of new life" (CCC 2333). In fidelity to this revelation, the Catholic Church
teaches that through marriage, a man and woman form "an intimate commun-
ion of life and love" based on their free mutual consent (CCC 1603, 1660,
1662). Marriage is characterized by permanence, faithfulness and openness
to life, and is ordered "to the good of the couple as well as the generation and
education of children" (CCC 1660, 1664).
